Comments on: Post-Season Thoughts on the New Wild Card Formathttp://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/10/30/post-season-thoughts-on-the-new-wild-card-format/
A Member of the ESPN SweetSpot NetworkTue, 06 Dec 2016 04:32:00 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.4By: medfesthttp://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/10/30/post-season-thoughts-on-the-new-wild-card-format/#comment-31163
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 21:51:28 +0000http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/?p=11767#comment-31163In order to have a true wild card in a league all the teams would have to play balanced schedules,not 18 against their division foes and six against everyone else in the league.That’s the only way the wild card team would truly be one of the top four teams.

Would the Indians have won 92 without playing Chicago and Minnesota 38 times?
Tampa Bay played Boston ,New York ,Baltimore and Toronto 18-19 times each and made the wild card game,which team deserved it more?

As long as they play imbalanced schedules and inter league games that lead to these discrepancies,the play in game will be a poor compromise but it’s all they can do.

]]>By: Calehttp://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/10/30/post-season-thoughts-on-the-new-wild-card-format/#comment-31154
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:09:40 +0000http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/?p=11767#comment-31154I agree with Ryan and Michael that the worst teams should have a disadvantage. The problem is, the worst team isn’t always the WC team. This actually brings me to my biggest gripe in all sports….divisions…

This year was the rare case, where the 6 best records were actually the 6 division winners…but even if we go back to last year, Detroit won the AL Central with 88 wins while Baltimore and Texas had a 1 game playoff after having 93 wins each. Why is geographic location (aka divisions) such a big factor in determining which teams are “best”. IMO, Detroit should have had to play the WC game, even though they won the division. Emphsis should be on number of wins, not on beating only 4 other teams. Sorry, rant over.

]]>By: Ryan McCrystalhttp://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/10/30/post-season-thoughts-on-the-new-wild-card-format/#comment-31148
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:09:43 +0000http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/?p=11767#comment-31148I love the new system for two reasons… 1. It keeps more fan bases interested late in the season. In the long run, this is huge for baseball as the overall popularity of the sport has dwindled… 2. It is a HUGE disadvantage. Home field advantage has proven to be nearly nonexistent in baseball, so a wild card team is essentially on even footing in the playoffs. By making them play a 1 game playoff, not only do the wild card teams have only a 50/50 shot at actually making the real playoffs, but they burn their best available starting pitcher. From 2000 to 20011, two teams with fewer than 90 wins won the WS. The same number of times it happened between 1959 and 1999. We’re now back to rewarding the elite teams, and I love that.
]]>By: Michael Hagesfeldhttp://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/10/30/post-season-thoughts-on-the-new-wild-card-format/#comment-31147
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 13:43:10 +0000http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/?p=11767#comment-31147While I feel that the argument can certainly be made that A) a 1-game series in baseball is ridiculous and B) a second WC is a money grab (welcome to sports), I am generally in favor of having 2 if you’re going to have 1 (but NOT any more). The reason is I agree with the rationale that being the WC team was not enough of a disadvantage, and a premium should be placed on winning your division. I LIKE the WC winner having to screw up their rotation, and maybe be tired from flying around. Too many WC teams were winning of late, it felt like, and I want it to be a big disadvantage to have to overcome.
]]>By: Gvl Stevehttp://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/10/30/post-season-thoughts-on-the-new-wild-card-format/#comment-31134
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 04:12:34 +0000http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/?p=11767#comment-31134Yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous to think that one game is a fair way to determine which is the better team when it took 162 games just to get there. The NHL is bad too. You pretty much have to be in last place to miss the playoffs there. Why even bother with a regular season?
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